WVOC News

Senators Debate Release of DOR Breach Report

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP/SCRN/WVOC) - Kershaw County State Senator Vincent Sheheen sought a budget amendment Thursday to require Governor Nikki Haley's administration to release of the full report on what happened in the data breach at the state Department of Revenue in the fall of 2012.

“Now I can understand maybe for a little while,” Sheheen said, “hiding behind law enforcement and saying, 'Oh, we can't release this stuff.' But almost two years later, either you have it fixed like you should and you let people know what is actually going on or you keep hiding the ball.”

The State Law Enforcement Division and Secret Service have asked that the full report stay secret, saying it could hurt an ongoing investigation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Larry Martin agrees, saying allowing the full report to go public could make things worse.

“All you will do when you release this report is give the perpetrator of this crime the satisfaction of knowing what they have on him,” Martin said, “what the federal government has on him, what our SLED law enforcement division has on him, and how he might best evade capture in the future.”

Martin accused Sheheen – who's running for governor against Haley in November – of playing politics with a law enforcement matter.

Sheheen's budget amendment was thrown out on a technicality after senators refused to kill it.

Millions of taxpayers' private information was compromised in the DOR data breach.

And Orangeburg County Senator Brad Hutto says the report might confirm the federal government paid the cyber-thief not to sell the private data.